by Lisa Colangelo
Recruits who make it through the rigorous training to become police officers will find that the new PBA contract calls for sizable raises but also givebacks.
While the city was locked in a bitter arbitration battle with the union representing police officers, it continued to negotiate with other uniformed municipal employees.
In fact, it successfully negotiated deals with all the other uniformed unions years before arbitrators handed down a contract between the city and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association this past May.
Mayor Bloomberg and other city officials said they were able to come to agreements with firefighters, sanitation workers, correction officers and other police unions because both sides were willing to sit down at a table and hash out all the issues.
But there was another incentive to settle early instead of waiting to see what the PBA received through arbitration.
Each of those unions requested a reopener clause in their contracts that allows them return to the negotiating table if the PBA got raises higher than the 3% and 3.15% they accepted for two years of their contracts.
Police officers ended up getting raises of 4.5% and 5%, and almost immediately other unions said they wanted to take advantage of the reopener clause.
Bloomberg said any union that wants more money should be prepared for givebacks.
Some critics said the decision took too much back from police officers to get those salary increases. For example, new police officers will receive 10 fewer vacation days for their first five years and all officers now have to use a vacation day to qualify at the police firing range.
Last week, the Lieutenants Benevolent Association became the first union to successfully reopen its old contract to get some new money for its members at top pay.
To get the additional 3.35% increase in pay, the city will be allowed to give lieutenants last-minute schedule changes for an additional five days. They also agreed on a deal to reduce the retroactive pay by making it effective on the last day of each contract year.
Top-pay lieutenants are expected to receive about $5,000 in retroactive pay.
Labor Commissioner James Hanley said the lieutenants' deal worked because the union was able to "restore parity without doing so much damage to the benefits they enjoy."
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